Bio

Dr. Yanique Hume is an interdisciplinary scholar, dancer, and choreographer whose work is deeply rooted in Caribbean cultural thought and the religious and performance traditions of the African Diaspora. She is the Head of the Department of Cultural Studies and a Senior Lecturer at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. Dr. Hume’s research integrates cultural anthropology, performance studies, critical dance practice, and comparative religion to explore the intersections of ritual, identity, and cultural expression across the African Diaspora.

An accomplished dancer and choreographer, Dr. Hume has collaborated with dance companies throughout the Caribbean, working across both ritual and contemporary dance forms. She is also an active member of the Afro-Feminist Performance Routes project—an artist-scholar residency initiative that explores embodied philosophies, feminist perspectives, and decolonizing pedagogies through African Diaspora dance practices.

Her scholarly and creative contributions are further exemplified in her leadership role as President of KOSANBA, the Scholarly Association for the Study of Haitian Vodou and Other Africana Religions. Dr. Hume is also a key member of Echoes in the Africana World, a transcontinental African Diaspora think tank, where she co-creates and teaches innovative courses that explore the dynamics of African diasporic cultures.

Dr. Hume’s work has been supported by prestigious research funding from organizations such as the Social Science Research Council, Ford Foundation, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, solidifying her research trajectory in the fields of cultural studies, performance, and African Diaspora research.

Dr. Hume’s research portfolio and experience is wide-reaching. As a multilingual researcher, her fieldwork experience in Africana religions as well as sacred and popular performance traditions are centered in the Caribbean and Latin America, especially Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname, Brazil and Colombia. In applied research, her work has focused on the creative industries and cultural policy; migration and tourism; as well as museological production and management in underserved communities in Jamaica and Colombia.  Dr. Hume has conducted two extensive multi-sited research projects, the first was funded by the International Development Research Centre, Strategic Opportunities in Caribbean Migration and it involved researching the potential of diaspora tourism in the Caribbean with a focus on the Dominican Republic. The second CARICOM initiated and EU funded project, Regional Strategic Plan for Cultural and Entertainment Services/Cultural Industries in CARICOM and CARIFORUM involved an extensive mapping of the creative industries in the region with specific emphasis on the DR and Haiti. 

Qualifications

BA (UVM), MA (Emory), PhD (Emory)

Research Areas

Dr. Hume’s research portfolio and experience is wide-reaching. As a multilingual researcher, her fieldwork experience in Africana religions as well as sacred and popular dance forms are centered in the Caribbean and Latin America, especially Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Suriname, Brazil and Colombia. In applied research, her work has focused on the creative industries and cultural policy; migration and tourism; as well as  museological production and management in underserved communities in Jamaica and Colombia.  Dr. Hume has conducted two extensive multi-sited research projects, the first was funded by the International Development Research Centre, Strategic Opportunities in Caribbean Migration and it involved researching the potential of diaspora tourism in the Caribbean with a focus on the Dominican Republic. The second CARICOM initiated and EU funded project, Regional Strategic Plan for Cultural and Entertainment Services/Cultural Industries in CARICOM and CARIFORUM involved an extensive mapping of the creative industries in the region with specific emphasis on the DR and Haiti. 

Full-length single-authored manuscript in preparation – “Haiti in the Cuban Imaginary” – examines the shifting discursive terrain of cubanidad in relation to the historical Haitian presence on the island. 

“Dancing for the Dead and the Living: Mortuary Arts of the Black Atlantic” – research project focused on the aesthetic and performative dimensions of funerary dances. 

Main Research Projects

Multi-media Digital Humanities project, “Spirits at a Crossing: Palo and the Evolution of a Sacred Curative Practice.” This collaborative research project focuses on the transformative evolution of a Kongo-based religious and spiritual complex known as Palo Monte and specifically its observation in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba.  

Research agenda is committed to using multiple modes of dissemination knowledge including exhibitions and curatorial practices, choreographies, lecture demonstrations, policy reports and documentary films, see for example, Forward Home: The Power of the Caribbean Diaspora (2011).

Teaching Areas

Caribbean Studies; Religious Cultures and Spiritualities of Africa and the African Diaspora; African diaspora dance and performance cultures; Sacred Arts of the Black Atlantic; Cultural Studies Research Methods; Identity Politics and Cultural Representation, Caribbean Cultural Studies and Black Popular Culture.

Select Publications

Passages and Afterworlds: Anthropological Perspectives on Death and Mortuary Practices in the Caribbean.  Editor with Maarit Forde. Duke University Press, Book Series, Religious Cultures of African and African Diaspora People (Duke University Press, 2018), 312 pages. 

Caribbean Cultural Thought: From Plantation to Diaspora. Editor with Aaron Kamugisha.  (Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Press, May 2013),  643 pages. 

Caribbean Popular Culture: Power, Politics and Performance. Editor with Aaron Kamugisha.  (Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Press, April  2016), 770 pages. 

“From Bush to Street: The  Shifting Performance Geography of Haitian Rara and Cuban Gagá”.  e-Misférica: The Hemispheric Institute of  Performance and Politics. 12.1: Caribbean  Rasanblaj – Guest Editor, Gina Ulysse. (2015).

“Afro-Feminist Performance Routes: Documenting Embodied Dialogue and AfroFem Articulations” researched and written by Chapman Dasha, Mario LaMothe in conjunction with Jade Power Sotomayor, Lēnablou, Luciane Ramos Silva, Sephora Germain, Yanique Hume, Rujeko Dumbutshena and Halifu Osumare.. Arms Akimbo: Black Women's Choreographies

Keywords

Caribbean Cultural Thought and Popular Culture; Afro-Atlantic Religions and Spiritualities; African Diaspora Dance and Performance Cultures; Festive and Sacred Arts; Caribbean Mortuary Complex.